Page 99 of Pumped

I furrow my brow at her strange statement. “What do you mean I won’t be here?”

Ivy gasps, slapping her good hand over her mouth. Her eyes are wide, like she’s been caught stealing candy from the pantry.

“It’s okay, Ivy,” Mom says from across the table. “You can tell them.”

Ivy beams and even with the scrape across her jaw and the little nicks and cuts all over, she looks brilliant. “You and Uncle Ev are going on a date!”

Me and Ev are what? I glance at Everest who shrugs, looking just as confused as I am, then at Mom who’s wearing a smug grin. Nell has a matching one, like the two of them have some scheme up their sleeves.

“Mom?” I don’t like surprises. She knows I don’t, and yet, the expression on her face has “surprise” written all over it.

“We were wondering, have you guys been on a real date yet?” Nell asks.

Everest blinks, dumbfounded. “A date?”

“Yes, you know, going to do something fun and romantic—alone?” Nell clarifies, putting extra emphasis on that last word.

I scoff. “We’ve been a little busy lately. When exactly would we have had time to go on a date?”

“That’s our point,” Mom cuts in. “You went from barely tolerating each other to…” She waves her hand in our general direction. “You completely skipped the hanging out, getting to know each other part in the middle.”

“I think I know Everest pretty well, Mom.” I shoot her a skeptical look.

“But have you ever had fun together?” she shoots back. “Alone.”

Alone? I can think of lots of fun we’ve had alone, but somehow, I don’t think our moms are referring to our bedroom activities.

“So what are you trying to say?” Everest asks, suspicion evident in his voice.

“You’re going on a date!” Ivy shouts, bouncing in her seat.

Mom pulls out her phone and a second later, mine chimes with an incoming message. “I just sent you the itinerary. We’ve planned everything out, including travel time between each location, and reservations have been made under Lambert-Wheeler.”

I stare at the detailed itinerary on my phone. Everything’s laid out just like Mom said, with address and phone numbers and reservation confirmation numbers. I sputter. “What— No— We can’t— But Ivy?—”

“Ivy will be fine!” Nell exclaims. “Mark and Graham have tickets to that auto show. And the three of us are having a girls’ afternoon. Isn’t that right, Ivy?”

“Yup!”

“But—” I try to object again.

“You’ll show us where her medication is and any associated instructions. We’ve got both of your numbers in case there’s an emergency. We’ll befine.” Mom gives me a pointed look, daring me to oppose her.

I turn to Everest for support, because there’s no way we can leave Ivy the day after her accident. But I should’ve known better because instead of the outrage I expect, Everest turns his big puppy dog eyes on me.

“Ev,” I scold.

He shrugs and gives me the most adorably pleading look that he definitely learned from Ivy. “Kinda sounds fun?”

Fuck. Guess we’re going on a date.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SEVEN

EVEREST

We’re going on a date. Which is exciting and weird all at the same time.

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